In 2012 cross-media creator Ravi Thornton made an immediate impact on the world of comics with the dark and layered fantasy The Tale of Brin & Bent and Minno Marylebone, published by Jonathan Cape. Written by Thornton, and illustrated by Andy Hixon, that allegorical offering was voted Broken Frontier’s Best Debut Graphic Novel in our 2012 annual BF Awards. Thornton’s work combines performance with the printed page, allowing her narratives to embrace the diverse storytelling potential inherent in different media. Last month I reviewed her latest graphic novel HOAX Psychosis Blues here – one strand of her current HOAX project alongside the musical HOAX My Lonely Heart, opening tonight at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre. HOAX Psychosis Blues has its origins in one of a number of poems written by her brother Rob (often in collaboration with Thornton) whose posthumous body of work detailing his life in the grip of schizophrenia is both the foundation the book is built on and the emotional territory it explores. With contributions by comics talents like Bryan Talbot, Hannah Berry, Rian Hughes, Karrie Fransman and Mark Stafford it acts as both a standalone entity in its own right and a companion piece to the stage show.

Broken Frontier caught up with Ravi to talk about both strands of HOAX, reactions to Brin & Bent two years on, the power of the graphic memoir, and the cross-media creative experience…BROKEN FRONTIER: For those who may be discovering your work for the first time through this interview could you give us a little background on Ravi Thornton and your journey into comics to date? RAVI THORNTON: Actually, I can’t profess to being a long-time comics fan or aficionado of any kind. My real love was always illustrated prose – the work of Charles Vess, Arthur Rackham, Aubrey Beardsley, for example. Then one day I saw my brother’s copy of Slaine The Horned God Volume 1. I was really moved by Simon Bisley’s artwork, and I guess that changed my perception of comics quite profoundly. Not long afterwards, my brother gave me a copy of Audrey Niffeneger’s The Three Incestuous Sisters, and that reaffirmed my growing suspicion that there was much more to the medium of comics than I had thought.

Since then I’ve realised the great breadth and depth of comics and comics arts styles, and gained huge respect for and enjoyment from them. Most of all I love it when it when the two (sequential art and illustrated prose) cross over, and I suppose that’s why I create my graphic novels in the way that I do. About my background? Well I’ve been writing prose for several years, and have always been a highly visual writer, but it was the Niffeneger moment that made me think about storytelling with images as well as words. I had the basis of a text that I thought would work well in this way, called The Tale of Brin & Bent and Minno Marylebone. However, not being an illustrator myself meant bringing in a collaborator, which in turn meant writing a script for them to follow. I tried it. It worked. And I’ve been writing cross-media scripts ever since.

BF: We spoke in some depth a couple of years ago at Broken Frontier about Brin & Bent and that cross-media collaborative process with illustrator Andy Hixon and composer Othon who provided the graphic novel’s soundtrack. Given the challenging nature of its narrative, which aspects of both the reactions to the book and the audience’s perceptions of it have most intrigued you? THORNTON: I think I was most intrigued at how literally the book was read given its very surreal appearance. Perhaps that’s a naïve thing for to say, because the use of a child as metaphor for vulnerability was always going to be controversial in the sexual context of this tale. I just never thought of it that way when I was writing it. Of course I had to think about that when Cape’s printers refused to print the book on the grounds of it not only promoting but condoning paedophilia; hence the addition of the foreword revealing that the origins of the story were autobiographical. But in some ways the response to that only intrigued me more. I guess the assumption was that I was a victim of child abuse (whereas actually the book is about a rape I suffered as an adult); yet instead of eliciting a supportive response, that assumption only seemed to disturb the audience more. Perhaps this says something about how we deal with victims of child abuse as a society?

The cover and images from The Tale of Brin & Bent and Minno Marylebone, published by Jonathan Cape It was only after I went public with the actual origins of the story, that the response to the book became much more sympathetic. I even tested the theory when the US edition came out, by making the foreword more explicit (‘I was twenty-one: he was brutal.’). Sure enough, where previous reviews had been dominated by such words as ‘disturbing’, ‘bizarre’, ‘fucked up’, now we had ‘wrenching’, ‘cathartic’ and most interestingly ‘heart’ instead. The critical response to Brin & Bent has been amazing. It’s been nominated for and won awards. It’s even being taught, complete with soundtrack, on the second year English Literature syllablus at The University of Nottingham. And it’s very gratifying to hear that, now that the origins of the story are clear, the book is helping to empower a number of its readers.But I think it’s the audiences perceptions of, and reactions to, the storytelling anchors – or lack of storytelling anchors – that has really intrigued me the most.

BF: I think that’s actually a very interesting point in that it opens up questions about the complexities of the author/audience relationship. Although it was obvious when I first read Brin & Bent that there was a dark truth at its core it still felt that I was also being invited to find my own meaning from the imagery and symbolism of the book, and that was a vital part of the experience. In what circumstances do you feel a narrative with an oblique or representational style works most effectively to convey your message and when is a more direct storytelling approach appropriate to the themes of the material?THORNTON: I’m not sure I have a rule on themes, as such. I guess it’s a more intuitive process than that. Or rather, I just seem to follow what the story demands. Having said that, I suppose those demands then conform to my natural writing style, which is quite vivid, but also quietly restrained. So if a story demands a brutal grotesquery, because it was based on such a brutal and grotesque act as rape, then I naturally lean towards conveying that through metaphor, because I’m not really interested in shouting to make my point heard, I’d much rather the audience have to come close. But with HOAX Psychosis Blues, for example, although the condition of schizophrenia is no less monstrous, the story is actually about the man beneath it, which means, as the author, I have to build intimacy; and I find the best way to do that is to be honest and accessible with human emotions. Hence the simple real-world scenes in Psychosis Blues, to give us our empathetic core.

Highly atmospheric artwork from Mark Stafford in HOAX Psychosis Blues It always comes down to what will best serve the story being told. As a third example, I’ve recently started working on another project that takes the common occurrence of a break up but sets it within a geological and mythological vastness. Why? Because the story is one of questions and searching, which is the story of all break ups everywhere, the world over. In this case the idea is not to present an immediate intimacy, but allow the audience to find that intimacy as they journey through the story by ultimately arriving at this universal human truth. Hmm. Reading this back, maybe I do have rules!BF: HOAX Psychosis Blues and HOAX My Lonely Heart are the two main strands of your current cross-media project. I reviewed HOAX Psychosis Blueshere at Broken Frontier recently but could you give us the background to HOAX in your own words and what you’re hoping to achieve with your Ziggy’s Wish publishing endeavour?THORNTON: HOAX tells the story of my brother, Rob, who committed suicide in 2008 aged 31 after a long battle with schizophrenia. The musical HOAX My Lonely Heart unfolds a painful love story in the six months pre Rob’s diagnosis as schizophrenic, whilst the graphic novel HOAX Psychosis Blues charts his life over the nine years post diagnosis through to his death. Both pieces stem from a single one of my brother’s poems titled ‘HOAX’. The manifestations of Rob’s illness were at once so immediate and yet so distant that I was looking for a way to explore both of these extremes. I chose stage, because of its intensity, as the medium to explore the former; and sequential art, which can revisited time and again, and explored as lightly or as a deeply as the audience wishes, as the medium to explore the latter. These choices were made very carefully. Although this story is about a man and his humanity, it is set within the context of mental health: a very sensitive subject that people need to be able to enter into at an emotional volume to suit themselves. Thus the musical slams the issue on the table, whilst the graphic novel presents the space around the table in which to reflect. Combined, this presents a very powerful experience – though the two parts also work as standalone pieces.

Interior pages with visualisations of Rob’s poetry from Rhiana Jade, Hannah Berry and Julian Hanshaw I set up Ziggy’s Wish so that I could raise money for charity through my storytelling – something that’s difficult to do when your work goes through mainstream publishers. I’m not looking to become a global powerhouse, just to create and sell special limited editions of certain stories so that I can give a decent percentage of profits made from those stories to charities that relate to them in some way. With HOAX Psychosis Blues, it is mental health charities that Ziggy’s Wish will support. Other projects will support different charities, like upcoming Scamp and Zoom, for example, which is a picture-book about a greyhound, and will support animal charities with its sales.BF: Returning to that sense of intimacy between creator and audience again for a moment, the artists you chose to interpret Rob’s poems seem to have been very carefully curated to match subject matter with illustrative style. Did you have creators in mind from the outset as appropriate fits for the individual themes of each featured piece of Rob’s work? How aware of the overarching narrative structure of the book were the collaborators in terms of what they were all working on? THORNTON: I had an idea of some of the creators I wanted to work with (variable 1), and also an idea of the storyline and its structure (variable 2). I then started the process of shortlisting from the several hundreds of my brother’s poems (variable 3), to find those that would firstly support the storyline, and secondly suit the creators’ individual styles. It was a long process, and I had to make changes to all three variables along the way in order to finally end up with my perfect storytelling matches. Fortunately, all but one of those matches I was able to implement, largely due to the good graces of the creators involved! And the one match I had to change, due to the creator being unable to deliver, was only made better by the new creator who took their place.

Powerful HOAX imagery from Karrie Fransman I actually wrote the graphic novel script as if it were ten separate scripts – with each one of these written specifically for the creator it was going to, in terms of the language and tone I used, and how much direction I included. Apart from Leonardo M. Giron, who illustrated all of the year sections that link the poems into a whole, each illustrator was given script for their poem only, plus the section of Leonardo’s script that immediately preceded it. It was important to me that the creators worked in isolation from one another, because the poems they were illustrating were written in isolation, and from a very isolated, and isolating, mental place. So in fact, apart from Leonardo, the collaborators were completely unaware of the overarching narrative of the book. Most of them are still unaware, having chosen to wait until the physical book comes out next month before they read it.BF: In many ways the artistic linchpin of the whole exercise is that subtle and visually eloquent framing sequence from Leonardo M. Giron. How did you discover Leonardo’s work and what made him such a good fit for those segments of the book?THORNTON: I was introduced to Leonardo, or Glen as we call him, by writer and designer Rich James Johnson. I’d been talking to Rich about a possible collaboration, but time was against us so he pointed me in Glen’s direction instead. I loved Glen’s work, and sent him a short-story script that I’d written called Day Release. Like HOAX, the short-story was inspired by my brother’s poetry. It was around the time I was planning HOAX in my head, so there was probably quite a bit of subconscious water-testing going on too…. From his portfolio, I knew my work would be something very different for Glen to tackle: not only because the subject matter was all very ‘ordinary’ (not the sci-fi or fantasy that Glen is renowned for), but also because it was so British, and northern British at that (Glen is Filipino, based in Manila). But the way Glen responded to the script and my directions was just amazing. It’s difficult, when you work with so many amazing talents, to identify what really marks out the best of the best – but Glen would have to be right up there.

The subtle storytelling of Leonardo M. Giron is the book’s artistic linchpin There’s something so incredibly intuitive in his work, a very sensitive understanding of what it is to be an ordinary human person – which in itself, I think, allows that ordinary human person to become extraordinary on the page. When it came to HOAX some months after that, Glen was top of my list. I knew that once he was on board for the interlinking narrative sections, we would have the strongest possible structure in place upon which to build the rest of the piece.BF: The combination of artists is fascinating in that it includes legends of the British industry like Bryan Talbot and Rian Hughes, some of the established rising stars of the new wave of UK graphic novelists including Karrie Fransman and Hannah Berry, and relatively unknown creators like Rozi Hathaway (who I’m sure we will be seeing a lot more from in the future!). Was that mix a conscious one or a happy coincidence? THORNTON: I guess a little bit of both. I knew I needed a certain degree of illustrator clout to help carry a project of this size and scope, particularly in terms of funding and partner support, so when both Bryan and Rian agreed to contribute I was thrilled. Then there were creators, like Hannah, Karrie, Julian [Hanshaw], Mark [Stafford]… who I knew through Cape or their events, knew I wanted to work with, and knew they’d be a good match for the certain sections I had in mind.

An impressive debut from Rozi Hathaway in HOAX Psychosis Blues And then there were the ‘relative unknowns’. In fact Rhiana [Jade] and Ian [Jones] were already know to me as artists in their own right, and I was keen to champion their work. Rozi was the real wild card. I didn’t know anything about Rozi at all. What I did know was that I wanted to find someone at that level and give them a hand up, because it’s just so tough to get a break in this line of work. I also knew the section that I wanted this particular person, when I found them, to illustrate – a pretty difficult section actually, in more ways than one. So I set out roaming online portfolios and blogs as I often do when I’m looking for collaborators, and came across one of Rozi’s paintings. I knew as soon as I saw it that there was something in her style that would work for HOAX. I dropped her a line, and she agreed to come on board. It was definitely a challenge for Rozi. She worked long and hard, with more redraws and further directions than all of the other illustrators put together. But it was worth it, and it shows. And I loved working with Rozi precisely because she was willing to work that hard.BF: You’ve already touched upon the cross-media element of HOAX and how the stage and comics strands complement each other but it would be remiss not to hear from you about the journey that the stage show has taken from genesis to realisation…

THORNTON: Around the same time as I was contemplating my brother’s poetry, and specifically his poem ‘HOAX’, theatre director Benji Reid got in touch, having read my graphic novel The Tale of Brin & Bent and Minno Marylebone. We met and discussed collaboration, and it quickly became apparent we shared an appreciation of finding beauty in the dark. I showed Benji ‘HOAX’. He asked I could develop something from it for stage, so I went away to write HOAX My Lonely Heart…. When Benji saw the script, he was as surprised as I was that I’d written a musical, but saw at once how it could work. I then brought musician and composer Minute Taker on board, having heard him play a gig locally in Manchester; whilst Benji sourced our producer Pippa Frith. Pippa started the ball rolling with funding for our first stage: Research & Development. Arts Council England were our main funders, but we needed more. I’d started work on HOAX Psychosis Blues as an accompanying piece by this time, which meant we already had something quite unusual and exciting in terms of a project, so suggested that we offer it up for academic research. That’s when The University of Nottingham pledged their support, and their English Literature professor Dr Matt Green became our researcher. On the back of this we were able to secure the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester as a partner, and utilise their rehearsal rooms for a week of invaluable ideas testing.

HOAX My Lonely Heart rehearsal photographs above and below courtesy of Benji Reid All of these things added weight to the project when we went for the second-stage funding that would allow us to premiere the performance and print the graphic novel. The bids we made were successful, then it was full steam ahead to create the musical score for the performance, find and audition the actors, get everyone into the rehearsal room, test the script, make various cuts, marvel at the sheer amount of singing, acting and physical talent in front or us… and make the show.

BF: It’s my firm belief that the rise of the graphic memoir has played a pivotal role in bringing in new readers to the world of graphic novels who were previously unaware of the storytelling potential of the form. Do you have any thoughts of why comics as a medium are so effective in communicating personal experience in such an empathetic way? THORNTON: I suspect there are several factors at play. In no particular order… One: That our most basic form of understanding, as humans, is that of reading faces. Two: Comics present a multi-faceted landscape which in some ways is more akin to cinema than prose; such that whilst you are following the core strand of the story, you are constantly being fed other information from around that core on the page. This makes for very effective emotional engagement. Three: Comics are immediately accessible because they offer a visual entry level, and then immensely rewarding as the audience discovers further layers in both the visual and the text. Four: It might sound strange, but I feel there is a gentleness to comics, quite apart from the subject matter, which can of course be very violent. There is a dignity, a respect for the skill that has gone into the work of a comic, that reminds the audience of the humanity and the humility behind it. Five: Comics are a very stripped-down form of storytelling, and when you strip things down, you nearly always arrive at the truth.

BF: You may not be thinking too far ahead after the last few months of working so intensively on HOAX but, as a final thought, what can you tell us about what we can expect from Ravi Thornton in the near future? THORNTON: I’ll be focusing quite a bit on Ziggy’s Wish, tightening things up there, further promoting HOAX Psychosis Blues and getting ready for the next publication, Scamp and Zoom. I’ve also recently started working on a new book with two very interesting illustrators, Alan Dalby and Chris Madden, called The Giant’s Wife. We’re aiming to create something a bit different, something that blurs the line between illustrated prose and comics. And there’s another collaborative cross-media project I’ve been slowly building for a while now, called CIRCUS (working title), that explores whether biochemical triggers can empower victims of abuse. This will involve sequential art, theatre and also gaming, so I’ve quite a bit of writing to do for that.

You can order a copy of HOAX Psychosis Blues here from Ziggy’s Wish priced £15.99. For more on Ravi Thornton and HOAX visit her website here.[Read the original interview here.]

At last year’s Lakes International Comic Arts Festival, I spoke on a panel discussion titled ‘Rocking with Horror’, alongside Hannah Berry, Ian Culbard, David Hine, HOAX composer Minute Taker, and our chair Alex Fitch. I wrote about it at the time in a post here.

Rather wonderfully, Alex presents ‘Panel Borders’, the weekly radio show on comics that broadcasts on Resonance 104.4FM London. As such Alex recorded the panel talk, broadcast half of it during a set of shows he was presenting on comics and horror, and saved the other half – ‘my’ half – for his set of shows on comics and music.

The broadcast, which wound up that set of shows, went out yesterday, and it was really great to be able to hear and share the panel talk once again. Don’t worry if you missed it, because it’s being repeat-broadcast this Thursday, May 1st, 11am; and will be available on Alex’s site as a podcast too.

Here's the official info:

"Concluding a month of shows about the connections between comics and music, graphic novelist Ravi Thornton discusses her books The Tale of Brin & Bent and Minno Marylebone and HOAX Psychosis Blues with Alex Fitch in a Q and A recorded at The Lakes International Comic Art Festival.

"Ravi talks about the musical accompaniment for Minno Marylebone, its connection with ballet and new technology, the numerous artists involved with Hoax and how the graphic novel will be accompanied by a performance at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester in June. The episode also features Hannah Berry talking about her contribution to Psychosis Blues and a pair of songs from HOAX My Lonely Heart performed and introduced by Minute Taker (Ben McGarvey)."

An exciting day in the cottage today as we look forward to receiving dear Prof Matt as our guest.

Professor Matthew J. A. Green of English Literature at The University of Nottingham, to give the man his full title, has being academic researcher and collaborator on both my graphic-novel projects so far (The Tale of Brin & Bent and Minno Marylebone, and HOAX).

We’ve batted so many documents back and forth over the past couple of years, flitted hither and thither to various conferences and talks, and become firm friends in the process. So I was quite surprised to realise this morning that the Prof’s never actually been round.

A frantic bout of tidying later, and I can tell you the reason that Prof Matt is coming to stay is because we’re heading across the hills tonight to speak at Laydeez Do Comics Leeds.

Hosted by the very impressive Louise Crosby, it looks set to be yet another Laydeez smash, so if you can make it then please come along.

Here’s the line-up...

Dr Ian Hague:

Academic and director of Comics Forum. Author of Comics and the Senses: A Multi-sensory Approach to Comics and Graphic Novels. Talking about his research into the ways comics stimulate all 5 senses and are challenge the idea that comics are purely visual in nature.

Louise Crosby & Clare Shaw:

Illustrator and poet. Poetry performance and a talk about their collaboration Seeing Poetry: Poetry in Words and Comics.

Ravi Thornton & Dr Matt Green:

Ravi is a award winning cross-media writer whose work includes the debut graphic novel The Tale Of Brin & Bent and Minno Marylebone. Ravi will be speaking about her present project HOAXMy Lonely Heart a musical stage performance, and HOAX Psychosis Blues a graphic novel. Matt is an academic from University of Nottingham who edited Alan Moore and the Gothic Tradition. He is working with Ravi on several projects. He will be speaking about this and the gothic tradition in comics.

With one thing and another, the talk that Prof Matt and I were due to give at Laydeez Do Comics in London last December rather crept up on me. Being part of a double act, however, fortunately comes with that whole ‘twice as much in half the time’ advantage. And so it was that we took to the stage with only relatively minor bumblings. Of course it’s the welcoming, non-judgemental yet highly astute environment Laydeez have very consciously cultured that made us, and everyone else present, feel so comfortable. The professor and I were slated for the second half of the evening. The first half saw Tim Pilcher and Paul Collicutt talking about their project Brighton: the Graphic Novel along with Ottilie Hainsworth and Jaime Huxtable, two of the 28(!) writers and illustrators involved in this fascinating and energetic collaboration. As well as the sneak peeks into the beautiful array of styles in the book, it was great to hear about the community publishing structure standing behind the Brighton: the Graphic Novel project, and making it possible. After a networking break, complete with the eponymous Laydeez cakes, it was time for our talk: INTERSECTIONS: Crossings of genres, traditions and media. Moving back and forth between the two of us, Prof Matt spoke of his work in Gothic traditions and how that crosses-over with aspects my work, whilst I discussed those aspects in more detail. In particular we looked at the fictionalising of biography, and of how, for me, this is much more a calculated writing device than an emotional indulgence or cathartic release. Laydeez Do Comics really is a very remarkable affair. As always, the debate between audience and speakers was lively and thought-provoking. We had a lovely and fascinating evening, and very much look forward to the next time!* *The Professor and I will be talking again at Laydeez Do Comics, this time in Leeds, as part of the Yorkshire Festival, next Monday (March 31st, 2014).

One of the events I attended last weekend in Kendal was The Write Comic Stuff, with Ed Brubaker and Kurt Busiek, two of the USA’s best known comic writers talking about their craft. UK comic connoisseur Paul Gravett was the host, and with the combined, immense knowledge of all three men the talk provided a fascinating insight into the different processes of scriptwriting for this wonderfully malleable medium.

Ed said that a writer is either an architect or a gardener (with he himself being a gardener); defining an architect as the writer who plots out the story as a whole, and a gardener as the writer who lets the story unfold and grow as they go along.

I thought about this and wondered: how does that apply to a cross-media writer like me?

I often describe my writing as architectural. I talk about shape and structure in my scripts as being paramount for their strength and honesty. If you don’t have the structure right, then you can’t dress that structure properly – with emotion, drama, intrigue, or whatever it is that the narrative requires.

But just as important in my method is the ‘space’ I write into my scripts that gives the artist I’m writing for the room to play. And whilst the creation of those spaces might sound like an architectural act, it’s actually a very organic process: and necessarily so. I say necessarily, because these spaces are very tricky places to get right. They have to balance direction with freedom in order to support the process of true artistic collaboration. They have to be able to flex and react and accommodate. They have to unfold and grow….

And will this inaugural event have been the first of several? I do hope so! So I was part of a panel event called 'Rocking with Horror': talking about horror in comics alongside Hannah Berry, Ian Culbard and David Hine; featuring HOAX composer Minute Taker; and chaired by Alex Fitch.

It really was great fun! Alex had me up first, so I spoke about how, for me, the worst horror is in the real. I referenced some of the many horror artworks that are based on real events (The Girl Next Door, The Blob, The Shining…), how they range from the very graphic, the fantastical, the psychological, through to biographical and auto-biographical. And I talked about my own comic works (The Tale of Brin & Bent and Minno Marylebone and HOAX Psychosis Blues) as being somewhere in the midst of all of those elements.

HOAX composer Minute Taker then performed two of the songs from the musical HOAX My Lonely Heart. It was an amazing demonstration of how he’s using loop-pedal layering to develop soundscapes that can convey the horror of schizophrenia.

David then talked about his preference for looking into the dark corners of a horror story and showing head-on, in their full glory, the monsters he found there.

Ian questioned that, and asked whether psychological suggestion was the more effective way.

And Hannah talked about her methods of employing subtlety to lead the reader unaware towards the horror: such that the innocuous can become very suddenly ‘nocuous!’

We had a short but interesting debate on these different approaches, then were far-too-soon out of time as the festival roared on with its incredibly rich programme of events.

It was a brilliant festival in every single aspect. Superbly put together with a fantastic array of talent and interest. I feel certain we’ll be seeing it raise its fine, old-stone Kendal head again next year, and many more years to come after that.

Today is the first day of the first ever LAKES INTERNATIONAL COMIC ART FESTIVAL. I'm speaking there tomorrow, along with HOAX composer Minute Taker, on the Rocking With Horror panel, and so am heading up to Kendal today, along with the Beau, the Daughter and Friend-of-Daughter-Noah. Ordinarily I'd be a little more organised for something like this than I am, however, with work and recent events, I'm running a little behind.

As I hastily gather together my notes, clothes and waterproofs (Lake District + October = good chance of rain), I marvel over how amazingly well the founders and supporters have pulled this inaugural event together. The programme, the guests, the arrangements... all incredible. And the way the local community is involved is nothing short of inspiring. They've even created a beer!

"Staveley-based Hawkshead Brewery has teamed up with The Lakes International Comic Art Festival to produce a limited-edition beer for the event. The label design is by American cartoonist Gilbert Shelton, creator of Fat Freddy, and named after Fat Freddy’s beer of choice – Tall Toad."

It's going to be a great event for comics, graphic novels, writing and art. But it's also going to be a great event for real people to meet real people - and that's what I'm looking forward to the most.

Next month (Friday 18th to Sunday 21st October) sees the inaugural Lakes International Comic Art Festival in Kendal. It’s been modelled on the ‘en fete’ atmosphere of the European comic festivals, with the whole town being involved, and looks set to be a really happy and friendly affair.

I’m speaking there on the Saturday night as part of the panel talk ‘Rocking with Horror’. Fellow speakers are Ian Culbard, David Hine and Hannah Berry, with Alex Fitch of Resonance FM as our chair: a doubtless treat for the audience, with humour and wit abounding! And then there is me; with my themes of tragedy and pain, casting menace and shadow, darkness and despair….

Fear not, however! There is lightness to my dark in the form of HOAX composer Ben McGarvey aka Minute Taker. Ben will be with me, performing pieces from the score of HOAX My Lonely Heart, the musical theatre piece that accompanies the graphic novel HOAX Pyschosis Blues, one of the projects I’ll be talking about at the festival.

Admittedly my involvement means the score is also pretty dark, but Ben is sweetness personified and his smile infectious. So I think we’ll get away with it.

You may recall me mentioning the call out (asking attending comic-people to submit artwork for auction) that went along with the recent conference in Brighton. Not being an illustrator myself, I submitted a piece drawn by my brother Rob.

Around 20 prints were auctioned, raising over £600 for the Creative Therapies Fund of mental health charity MIND.

The fund helps people make sense of their mental health problems through local arts projects in supportive environments with trained therapists.

'The therapeutic effects of creative activities can be enormous. For those who can't find words to express how they feel, they can be a lifesaver. For some people, creative therapies provide more profound and long-lasting healing than more standard forms of treatment for mental health problems. They provide a powerful means of expression and a release from trauma.'

It's a great cause, the auction was a great idea, and I'm glad that Rob and I have been a part of it all.

Matt Green (Associate Professor of English Literature at Nottingham University) is attached to HOAX as the project's academic researcher. It's been, and continues to be, an absolute pleasure to have the professor on board and work beside him. Matt is studying several aspects of HOAX, and of other pieces of my work, including their biographical components. This month Matt and I travelled to Brighton to present at the 4th International Conference on Comics and Medicine.

Here's the abstract of our paper, titled THE ETHICS OF GRAPHIC MEMOIR AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY:

'This paper will discuss two works that depict the effects of trauma and mental breakdown, considering the ethical implications of translating real events into a fictional format and of representing the life story of someone else. Combining the self-reflexive accounts of the writer with a critical analysis grounded in the medical humanities, this paper aims to yield insight into the ethical questions associated with representations of trauma and mental illness. Further, it will explore the use of the graphic novel to tackle sensitive mental health issues as well as the medium's relation to other genres.

The first text, The Tale Of Brin & Bent And Minno Marylebone, encodes personal traumawithin a metaphorical form, seeking to convey first-hand psychological experience through fictional narrative. This intercourse between fact and fiction raises ethical considerations in its own right, particularly as the narrative utilises the fictional account of an abused child to explore an adult experience of helplessness, which prompted the printer to require the insertion of an authorial note disclosing the book's autobiographical dimension.

The second work, HOAX, tells the story of the author's brother, Rob, who suffered from schizophrenia, and killed himself in 2008 at the age of 31. The first portion of the story is told through musical theatre, while the second part takes the form of a graphic novel based around poems that brother and sister wrote during his illness. In addition to yielding insight into the movement between genres and across different audiences, this project facilitates an exploration of the relationship between memoir and biography. Specifically, it brings into focus interrelated questions related to voice and authenticity. The project functions as both memoir and memorial, while at the same time transposing Rob's experiences and words into new -- and public -- contexts.' As the HOAX graphic novel grows ever-more developed, and its mental-health nature ever-more clear, my thoughts turn towards what my responsibilities will be when we actually put the book 'out there' into the public domain. A fascinating meeting of Graphic Medicine minds, the conference was really very useful in this respect, giving me a lot to think about.

It’s not long now till dashing academic Prof Matt and I give our talk at the 4th International Comics and Medicine Conference, to be held this July in Brighton.

I'm really looking forward to this conference! With talks from ‘medicine people’ and ‘comics people’, both exploring how the medium of comics can actively benefit medical understanding, it seems to me a very exciting forefront of exploration.

Matt and I are still working out the finer points of our presentation (namely who will play Paul Daniels and who will play Debbie McGee)... however it’s not all me, Matt, saws and sequins. Another aspect to the conference is the comics-art print exhibition, curated by physician and art critic Dr John Quin and made up of pieces by the actual comics people attending.

The exhibition will reflect the themes of the conference, and being able to associate the pieces to the real-life people giving the talks will only add to the interest and understanding.

Of course I’m one of those naughty imposters in the comics world who writes but doesn’t draw, so I don’t have artwork of my own to exhibit. I do, however, have artwork that was my poet-brother Rob’s. And as we’ll be talking about the Rob-inspired project HOAX, which sits very firmly within Graphic Medicine, it seems only fitting.

Rob was as mighty with the pencil as he was the pen. The print I’ve chose for the exhibition was part of his own exploration into the dark layers we can so easily succumb to….

The end of the conference will see the prints auctioned, with all profits raised going to charity.